You’ve likely heard that the cloud provides “24/7 access” with no elaboration. Some cloud providers will boast this but not get into specifics, mainly because they can’t back up the claim. You deserve to have a cloud solution that can give you and your clients true 24/7 accessibility. What are all the capabilities of the cloud to keep your business running constantly?
Here are specific examples of 24/7 cloud functionality that eliminate downtime.
Example 1 – The Three S’s: Servers, Support, and Security
When it comes to reliability with the cloud, these three items are always of heightened importance. Let’s talk about them in more detail:
- Servers – Your MSP needs to have functional servers. This is a no-brainer, but completely true; 24/7 support means that you’ll never have to worry about your servers going down and negatively impacting your productivity.
- Support – This is one that large cloud providers love to reference, but most of the time your “24/7 support” will be spent listening to hold music. Find a cloud solution that can support your needs at all times, whether that be with a quick response from a human representative or direct access to the resources you need.
- Security – Maybe you’re tired of hearing the importance of cloud security, but there’s a reason it keeps coming up. Security needs to be 24/7 in the cybersecurity landscape of today. Your clients love to hear about it, and your MSP certainly needs it.
You can never go wrong asking about these three items when talking with a cloud provider. Listen carefully to their responses; a cloud provider that is right for your MSP can do all of them, no exceptions.
Example 2 – Essential redundancies
Keeping your business data intact is non-negotiable. In line with security, you need efficient backup and redundancies in place in case something goes wrong. These CANNOT go offline, because any amount of time without backup in place is a chance for critical damage to be inflicted on your business data.
Having 24/7 access to internet and power redundancies is an essential failsafe that the cloud provides your MSP. You and your clients can rest assured that your data won’t be lost, which is a huge advantage when finding a provider and selling cloud.
Example 3 – Critical systems, business and customer
Let’s say you’ve found a provider who checks all the boxes so far: 24/7 servers, support, and security with essential redundancies in place. There’s another big area that you need to make sure is supported: your critical systems. What’s more, you need to make sure that your customers can access their applications with no hassle. Let’s talk about these areas in more detail:
- Business critical systems – Your MSP can’t function without your critical systems being supported around the clock. Find cloud that keeps your critical systems reliable, then move onto the next item to make sure that you can support your clients.
- Customer applications – Much like you need your systems up and running, your customers need their applications completely functional. Protecting productivity is a big draw when selling cloud, so make sure 24/7 application support is something your provider can do.
- Data access – Finally, here’s the popular draw of cloud. Rest assured that every cloud provider is mentioning 24/7 data access, but it would be wrong to leave it out. You and your customers can access all of your data and applications from anywhere at any time, provided that your cloud partner can actually keep downtime to a minimum.
Next time you hear a cloud provider boast about “24/7 access”, make sure to ask them about specifics and refer to the items I have talked about today. In the fast-paced world of today, you should settle for nothing less than true 24/7 support for your MSP and your clients.